Harris Palmer Research Library

08/13/2026

07/15/2026

Opening of the St. Croix River bridge, 1984. Do you know any of these people?

07/01/2026

This was a donation from a patron who spent a lot of time in nature. This hanging is composed of seeds and leaves native to Burnett County. How many can you identify?

06/17/2026

Today’s post is an oil painting that we have in our collection. Our question is, do you recognize any of the folks in this picture?

06/10/2026

A different find in our collection. Can you name it?

06/03/2026

Found in our collection. Can you tell us what it is?

05/13/2026

Classified Ad The Journal of Burnett County September 1944

03/24/2026

Home to the recorded history of Burnett County WI

02/04/2026

 Interesting finds at the history library…

We have an album in our library that will delight people who attended one of the counties elementary schools. Agnes O’Brien, a teacher known to many, kept an album of her students from 1926 to 1971. The first page highlights her own photo in 1926 when she was a teacher at Leef school. She was Agnes Mickelson at that time. Most of the students are identified by name in her album.

From 1926 to 31 she taught at Orange school and saved photos of the school house and several students attending at that time. Her later years were spent teaching at Webster State Graded School with fellow teachers, Mrs. Israel, and Thelma Bruce, as well as the principal Fred Lundberg. She also taught eight months at Gaslyn Creek School during World War II, and Scott School in 1940-41, finishing her 31 year career at Danbury Elementary from 1958 to 1971. Individual photos of elementary students from each school preserve an interesting story of school life in a past generation.

The history library is open to the public on Wednesdays from 10 to 3 if you wish to take a look at this album. We also have several Webster and Siren High School yearbooks for guests to enjoy, as well as as a file with information about most of the rural schools that dotted in the county long ago.

08/27/2025

Do you know any of these people? We have a photo in the archives of Burnett County Research Library of the school held in the Lutheran Church in Falun WI, 1909. If you know any of the children, please comment below.